I saw a Musketeer the other day that had a castering nose wheel. Did it come that way? I thought that they all had nosewheel steering.
Technical Editor:
The earliest Musketeers (1962-1963) did indeed have a castering nosewheel. Beech Service Letter SL63-12, dated November 1, 1963, introduced a kit (PN 23-7) to add nosewheel steering to these planes. The airframes that were constructed before the steering was implemented in Production were as follows. All these planes are either eligible for the conversion, or have already had it performed.
M0001-M0466, M0470, M0479-M0483; M0486, M0506, M0533-M0534; M0541, and M0565.
The serial numbers that were skipped in this application sequence were those that were delayed during production, possibly due to ordered options, and wound up receiving the steering system as they made their way down the assembly line.
Personally, I like a castering nosewheel. But it does take a little getting used to, as each implementation has slightly different characteristics. Cirrus has had to address brake fires, due to excessive brake usage during taxi, when the engine RPM is kept too high. The little Grummans work fine with the castering system. Most Homebuilts (Experimental-Amateur Built) use it as well. Although, on any plane with a castering nosewheel, you had better make certain you religiously perform a brake test prior to any aircraft movement. I once had a Tiger hold fine during a run-up, then lose its right brake on landing, 4 hours out of Annual. The fluid was too low; it had not been serviced. The reservoirs were in the master brake cylinders forward of the rudder pedals; not reachable during preflight. The brakes worked during the run-up, but not during a crosswind landing 2.5 hours later on a narrow paved country strip. I managed to keep it on the pavement by working with the good brake, and by getting enough air pressure pumped up in the bad one to be usable at very low speeds.